Introduction: Gestures provide a nonverbal channel for communication that is integral and entwined with every aspect of human interaction. The present study aims to highlight the contribution of gestures, discourse markers (DMs), and vocal gestures as communicative facilitators for maintaining the discourse in a person with aphasia (PWA). Methods: Discourse samples of two participants with Broca's aphasia and one control participant were audio-video recorded and transcribed. The communicative facilitators used by these participants were identified, scored, and analyzed from the discourse samples. Results: Results revealed high scores on the use of communicative facilitators among PWAs, using gestures and DMs in ways more than just to convey meaning. Both participants with aphasia differed on their use of verbal communication. They also differed on the quantity of communicative facilitators used to maintain the cohesiveness in discourse. The differences in use of verbal measures could be inferred based on the aphasia quotient obtained on the administration of Western Aphasia Battery-Kannada. These highly individualistic differences in the use of communicative facilitators in the absence of verbal expression are a product of various factors that influence and enhance the communication skills of the PWA; factors that may either be internal or external, with skills that are established before or after the stroke. Conclusion: The results of the present study suggest that PWAs have a significantly good communicative competence than what would be projected on any assessment scale that measures verbal components, and participants were noted to convey comprehensive information during discourse, compensating their poor verbal expression with communicative facilitators.

Objectives: Bilingualism and multilingualism are the norms of the society. The study was undertaken to assess the neural systems of language in bilinguals by means of antonym generation in Tamil to Tamil (TT) language, English to English (EE) language, and code-switching between Tamil to English (TE) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods: Proficient 16 Tamil-native speakers from rural Tamil Nadu, South India, participated in the study. Tamil (L1) was the first language and English (L2) was the second language in Cognitive Neuro Centre, NIMHANS. Single assessment design was used. Antonym generation task was used for the study with fMRI. Results: TT task uniquely activated right frontotemporal gyrus along with left caudate and lentiform nucleus. TE activated left parahippocampal and right cerebellar tonsil. Using conjunction analysis, it was found that during TT task, robust activations were present in multiple bilateral prefrontal areas, premotor area, bilateral insula, bilateral lingual gyrus, claustrum, and bilateral cerebellum. Common areas for TT and EE are precentral gyrus, cingulate gyrus, and right dentate. However, EE and TE activated bilateral parietal gyrus, cingulate gyrus, bilateral fusiform gyrus, angular gyrus bilateral thalamus, bilateral culmen, and right inferior semilunar lobule on the blood oxygenation level dependent of fMRI. Conclusions: The nature of the language produces unique neural circuits. The language processing in the brain requires executive processes and cognitive controls. The study has implications for cognitive network pattern analysis which could possibly aid in rehabilitation.

Income and work satisfaction among speech and hearing professionals in India: Two sides of the same coin

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SP Goswami, S Ramkumar, Sharon MathewsDOI:10.4103/jisha.JISHA_26_17

Introduction: Speech-language pathologists and audiologists work toward the prevention, assessment, or rehabilitation of persons with communication disorders. They work in a wide variety of service settings, with each setting being entirely different from the other in terms of the financial benefits, hours of work, nature of work, and work-life balance. With the extensive opportunities available, the field is growing and establishing itself in India. Measuring job satisfaction and understanding the factors that influence it makes known all facets of the profession in the Indian scenario. Method: The current study examined the various factors that affect work and income satisfaction among speech-language-hearing professionals who completed their professional education between 1967 and 2012 at an institute in India. A questionnaire-based survey method was used, and responses from 112 randomly selected participants from different work settings were analyzed. Results: A significant correlation between income and work satisfaction scores given by the participants was found. Conclusions: The study points out that income alone does not affect the professionals' work satisfaction. The latter is a resultant of other internal and external factors that lead to the professional feeling unappreciated for his/her job.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to complete a sociolinguistic adaptation and validation of the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised (WAB-R) (Kertesz and Raven, 2007), an English aphasia assessment into the Bangla language. Two hundred and fifty million people speak Bangla/Bengali in eastern parts of India and Bangladesh. Methods: This study had two steps: first, three professional translators performed the translation and back-translation processes on the WAB-R. Second, to validate the adaptation, 27 neurologically normal individuals and 36 patients with a history of cerebrovascular accident participated in this study. Results: Three types of adaptation processes, i.e., introduction of new words or phrases, direct translation, and direct translation replacing concepts were involved. As per different adaptation processes, Record form part 1 (derives aphasia quotient [AQ]) achieved 25% of sociocultural and linguistic changes whereas Record form part 2 (derives cortical quotient and language quotient) achieved 57% of sociocultural and linguistic changes. The items of Bedside record form (shorter version of the test) were taken from Record form part 1 and part 2. Normal controls completed the test with scores of 100% on most of the sub-tests while the patients' performance was significantly lower. Eighty percentage of the patients had aphasia, based on their test scores, and investigators could categorize the patients by aphasia type based on the AQ and bedside aphasia score. There is a high correlation between the subtest scores of Record form part 1 and Bedside record form. Conclusion: Some changes were needed to adapt the WAB-R for Bangla speakers. Preliminary validation study demonstrated that the Bangla WAB-R could differentiate the normal population from the patients with aphasia by their language performance. Investigators will attempt to standardize the test in the next phase of the study.

Identification of NOTE-50 with stimuli variation in individuals with and without musical training

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N Devi, U Ajith KumarDOI:10.4103/jisha.JISHA_32_17

Background: Music perception is a multidimensional concept. The perception of music and identification of a ra:ga depends on many parameters such as tempo variation, ra:ga variation, stimuli (vocal/instrument) variation, and singer variation. From these, the most important and relevant factor which is important for the perception of the ra:ga is the stimuli and the singer variation. However, the identification of a ra:ga also depends on an individual's music perception abilities. This study was aimed to compare the NOTE-50 (the minimum number of notes required to identify a ra:ga with 50% accuracy) identification of two different ra:gas with vocal or instrumental rendering in individuals with and without musical training. Methods: Thirty participants were divided into two groups as with and without musical training based on the scores of “Questionnaire on music perception ability” and “The Music (Indian music) Perception Test Battery.” Two basic ra:gas Kalya:ni ra:ga and ma:ya:ma:lļavagavlļa ra:ga of Carnatic music was taken as test stimuli. An experienced musician played violin in these two ra:gas in octave scale. Two ra:gas were also recorded in vocal (male and female singer) and instrumental rendering. These ra:gas were edited and slided for each note and combination of the notes. Hence, a total of 16 stimuli were prepared which were randomly presented 10 times for identification task. Results and Conclusion: The results revealed that there was a difference in perception of all the variations of the stimuli for those with musical training and without musical training. The stimuli with male rendering had better identification scores of NOTE-50 than the other stimuli. The number of notes required to identify a ra:ga correctly was lesser for participants with musical training. This could be due to the musical training and their better perceptual ability for music. Hence, it's concluded that identification, perceiving, understanding, and enjoying music require superior musical perceptual ability which could be achieved through musical training.